


Calling my name, wishing I stayed

by badatlettingo



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Cute, Depression, Drowning, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Ghosts, M/M, Soulmates, Suicide, different kind of soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-27
Updated: 2020-11-27
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:34:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 14,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27740005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/badatlettingo/pseuds/badatlettingo
Summary: It only takes 88 days for ghosts to make their human feel happiness and love and sacrifice their selves so they can live happily in another realm. If the ghost fails to do so, they're vanished and erased; leaving their human alone and their heart broken into pieces.
Relationships: Kim Jongin | Kai/Oh Sehun
Comments: 4
Kudos: 21





	1. intro

**Author's Note:**

  * For [185cmbaekhyun](https://archiveofourown.org/users/185cmbaekhyun/gifts).



> ahhh this has been months overdue and i finally finished it! i guess this is now my birthday and christmas gift to you grace omg :( i hope you like it! 
> 
> thank you so much [jen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/yeolish/profile) for helping me out on this one,, ily!!

There are two realms made by the Creator and those are called Universe and World.

Universe as defined by the Creator, is a realm that human and ghosts are trapped in and needs to surpass.

While World, is the one that the humans and ghosts will enter if they successfully pass through the Universe.

One human is made for one ghost, therefore making them soulmates.

A human defined by the Creator, is a creature that doesn’t experience the true emotions of happiness and love unless they meet their ghost.

A ghost as defined by the Creator is an invisible creature except for their respective human. ghosts can see every single human in the Universe, and they also know all kinds of emotions, which makes them more humane than the humans will ever be. 

Once the human meets their ghost, the ghost temporarily becomes visible to other humans. 

The ghosts are only given 88 days by the Creator to make their human feel happiness and love, and sacrifice themselves so they can both live happily in the World.

If the ghost fails, they fade away and are erased from the Universe and will never get the chance to enter the other realm. While the human suffers from the lost feeling of happiness and love that was given to them momentarily by their other half.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It only takes 88 days for ghosts to make their human feel happiness and love and sacrifice their selves so they can live happily in another realm. If the ghost fails to do so, they're vanished and erased; leaving their human alone and their heart broken into pieces.

Jongin doesn't know how long it’s been since he was created by their dumb Creator. He has been wandering around Universe for days, weeks, months, hell; he actually lost count on the first month. He doesn't know what drove the Creator to make humans and ghosts and another world that is apparently be full of sunshine and daisies.

In other words, Jongin is tired.

But every ghost in his position would definitely feel this way: exhausted and hopeless.

It's not easy to find their human.

Humans actually need to find them, but they have no idea that ghosts exist.

Jongin ends up sitting again in the same park that he always ends up in after roaming around the streets. He sits on a wooden bench facing the lake and lets out a deep breath. The skies are a mixture of orange and pink as the sun starts to set down.

He puts his head on his hands, tears about to fall out from his eyes. He doesn't know if he can still go on like this, always wandering around in hopes of finding his human.

Thankfully ghosts have the power to teleport, so they can go to different countries to look for their human, and unfortunately for Jongin, he has been to every single country that there is in Universe and he still hasn't found his other half.

And just like that, the tears that have welled up on his eyes started to fall down his face. Whimpering to himself, he wants to fade away. Be gone from both worlds, he's tired and he doesn't know if he can continue on finding his human.

Questions such as why the Creator thought of this, and how did they even come up with this idea, are running through his head. He has no respect for the Creator. Not when he has basically suffered ever since he was created.

Jongin lets it all out, he starts sobbing out loud knowing that none of the humans around him would hear and see him. He starts screaming until his voice cracks, and he kneels down on the ground, broken and in pain.

He just let all of his anger out, and it feels as if a weight has finally been lifted off of his shoulders. It feels good. He feels more at peace, he has been holding on for months and finally, he lets go.

His eyes are closed and he's still kneeling on the pavement. With his head tilted back, a strong scent of freshness hit his face, and he keeps his eyes closed, thinking that it's just the wind.

But it's not. 

"Hey, uhm... are you okay?" 

Jongin's eyes open widely in shock; different questions frantically swimming inside his head. Is this it? Did someone—his human finally find him? Will he finally be able to go to the World? Is he going to be okay? A human can see him now? His human is here? 

And Jongin starts feeling funny all over inside of him. It hits him, he's going to be a human temporarily, it's finally happening. 

Jongin hasn't taken a good look at his human yet but he doesn't care if his human looks like a devil, they're his human, and he will love them no matter what they look like. 

His eyes focused on the creature kneeling in front of him, pale skin, sharp eyebrows, straight nose, pink lips, eyes glimmering, his long black hair pushed back with a pair of glasses and he's wearing casual clothes, nevertheless, the man in front of him looks gorgeous. 

Jongin has imagined what his human will look like, and this man in front of him is way more beyond than his expectations. 

"Are you okay? You were kinda having a breakdown a while ago and I just.... uh-Hello? You there?" The man has a pretty deep voice; Jongin can listen to it every single day. Fuck, a giddy feeling starts running inside of him as he realizes that this man is his only. 

"Sorry about that, yeah I'm fine..." Jongin chokes out, finally getting out of the trance that he was in. 

"I’ll just let you finish your breakdown before I went over... you do seem like you look better than you were a while ago,” the man chuckles. "I'm Sehun, by the way."

Sehun. Jongin thinks that it’s a pretty name for a pretty man.

"I'm Jongin." They shake hands and once their skin touches, both of them pull away from the electric shock that they both got. 

"I'm so sorry we have to meet this way,” Jongin awkwardly laughs, hands scratching at the back of his head as he looks away from Sehun. He feels embarrassed that his human has to see him like this for the first time they meet. 

"It’s all fine, no worries at all. I know we're all going through something." 

And for a quick second there, Jongin forgets what he's actually supposed to be. 

There's a tingling feeling on his left wrist and he sees the clock. The seconds tick away one by one as the time passes by. 

88 days. That's all he's got. 

"You know..." Sehun starts, "I actually see you here every day. I just never got the courage to approach you because I'm shy." 

Jongin has never felt more dumb in his whole life, he has seen Sehun before, but he was too busy finding his human to pay any special attention to Sehun.

Apparently, Sehun always sits at the park with his painting tools. He has a canvas, a box full of his paint, paintbrushes, his little worn out journal, and a pencil. He always sits at the bench a few meters away from the bench Jongin was sitting on. And he has always included Jongin in his paintings, finding the "man" worthy of being included in his artworks. 

Sehun loves to paint, especially the scenery in the park. There's a lake, a mountain, trees, bushes with different kinds of flowers surrounding them, it's honestly beautiful. 

He loves painting to keep him busy, and that's all he ever does. It's included in his daily routine: eat, sleep, shower, paint, and repeat. 

Sehun has seen Jongin every day for the past few months and he has always been in awe of the beauty that the "man" has. The golden skin that looks gorgeous when the sun shines on it, he can never get enough of it. Sehun never really got the courage to approach Jongin, never the type to make the first move on anyone. And that's because he has never made a move on anyone at all, he has always kept to himself and he'll continue to stay that way. But when he saw Jongin break down a while ago, he knew he had to make sure that he's okay.

“Are you sure you’re okay now?” Sehun asks once more.

“Yeah, I’m fine now.” Jongin smiles back but Sehun doesn’t seem so sure about Jongin’s reply as he still wipes away at some tears on his face. 

“Here, you can have this.” Sehun hands him a handkerchief, it wasn’t really necessary but Sehun insisted and who is Jongin to deny that pretty face?

“Thanks, that’s really kind of you.” Sehun gives him a smile and nods at him, “It’s no worries. Come on, I know a good place to hang out.” Jongin’s eyes widen at that but he follows Sehun as he started walking. 

It’s a surprise to him that his human warmed up to him quickly, but if he thinks about it, he only has 88 days to do this and every second counts.

There are some good qualities living in Universe, everything is free. You get to have a good life, you can be anything you want, you can have money, and you can have a house, a job, anything, except for love and happiness. 

Sehun leads the way for the both of them, looking back once in a while as he holds a conversation with Jongin along the way. 

It’s funny, Jongin thinks. How he was ready to give everything up a few minutes ago, but now, he feels complete and happy. He feels alive, he feels like he can continue to live and go through the hardest part right now, which is where he is right now, he feels like he’s going to be successful and go to the World with Sehun. He feels like everything is suddenly possible. 

“What do you want to drink?” Sehun asks him once they stand in front of the menu of Sehun’s favorite café.

Since Jongin is still new to human things, he’s now having a debate inside his mind, wondering if he should risk it and pick one from the menu or just ask for Sehun’s advice.

“Are you a tea guy or a coffee guy?” Sehun points at the menu, showing him which ones are the best flavors. 

“I think I’ll have whatever you’re having.” Jongin replies, not really trusting himself on these kinds of decisions yet.

“Okay then!” Sehun cheers and they were next in line. Sehun ordered two large chocolate flavored bubble teas for them with two slices of cheesecake.

They found a small table on the corner of the café, both of them taking their seats as they wait for their food to be served.

“I’ve been here for as long as I could remember but I just saw you like…” Sehun paused and his eyebrows furrow, thinking as deep as he can to remember when was the first time he saw Jongin and his eyes suddenly lit up, a smile curving up on his face, “Yes! Maybe a few months ago? I saw you always at the park.” 

“Where have you been this whole time?” Sehun then continues to ask Jongin.

“Oh, well I…I work on different places, I go to country to country so I guess that’s why you never saw me.” Which wasn’t exactly a lie, all Jongin did was go through the other side of this realm to look for Sehun. “But I took a break now so I’m here maybe for good.” Jongin shrugs.

“That’s cool! I want to go outside of the country but I never really had the chance..” Sehun pouts but his pout vanishes as soon as he sees their food being brought to their table. Sehun and Jongin thank the waitress and Sehun gets confused when Jongin gets a wink from her, but he doesn’t have any right to be jealous since he just met Jongin! Stupid! He thinks. 

Jongin takes a sip from the bubble tea, he trusts Sehun’s taste and his eyes immediately glimmers when he gets the taste of the sweet sugary liquid inside his mouth.

“It’s good right!” Sehun laughs at him and takes a sip on his own drink.

Hearing Sehun laugh makes Jongin think that it probably has to be one of the best sounds that he has ever heard and he thinks he could start getting used to it.

Sehun told Jongin how he loves painting, he has special places when he’s on a certain mood and paints the scenery in front of him, he loves to swim, he has an addiction to the sugary drink that he ordered right now, wants to have pets but don’t have the ability to take care of them, and the rest of it goes on.

Jongin on the other hand, unfortunately has to put out lies to Sehun. He made stories about an imaginary human, a human that’s supposed to be him, but none of them are real. Because no matter how much Jongin looks like a human right now, he and the Creator know that he’s far from a human, he’s something that humans don’t know exists— a ghost.

Jongin has an option to reveal himself right now to Sehun, tell him the truth and they can both leave for the World, but it’s going to take so much risk. Hell, he’s not even sure if Sehun will take the news well and believe him. He’s not willing to give up what he has right now. 

-

A week has passed since their first encounter and Jongin has already adjusted to the daily life of a human. He has his own apartment, a car, and many more things that he’s sure are not needed. But he accepted everything with open arms from his Creator. 

Ever since the first day that Jongin and Sehun met, they (Jongin specifically) made sure that they see each other every day. It doesn’t matter to him if he accompanies Sehun at the park when he paints, or they take a long walk and talk about nonsense things. 

It doesn’t matter to Jongin at all whatever the hell they’re doing, what matters to him, is that they’re spending time together which makes him even closer to Sehun, making him earn his trust for the upcoming bomb that he’s going to drop on him soon. 

For today, Sehun told Jongin that he should prepare a swimsuit. Sehun didn’t mention anything else, just a short simple text of “bring ur swimsuit!! Picking u up soon!!”. Jongin isn’t even sure if he knows how to swim, suddenly forgetting that he’s a ghost.

And that’s the scary part of being a ghost transformed temporarily into a human, once they transform, there’s a possibility of them forgetting what they really are. They forget about the time ticking down on their wrist, they forget that they need to convince their human to go with them to the World, they forget that they can vanish in both worlds.

Jongin meets Sehun at their spot, the park where they first met; it has been their spot ever since that day.

Jongin sees Sehun sitting on a bench, a backpack resting on the space beside him, the young man looking ready for a trip to the beach. Sehun is all dressed up in beach attire, he’s wearing a tank top, showing off his toned arms, and the same goes for his toned legs which are adorning a pair of board shorts. There’s a black baseball cap resting on top of his head, covering his long black silky hair, and he tops his outfit with a pair of sunglasses. 

Jongin honestly wants to laugh at Sehun, he kind of looks ridiculous in the outfit that he has on, but for some reason he doesn’t, and swallows the laughter again inside his throat. Since it is Sehun, Jongin has learned to appreciate everything that the man does. He has learned to accept whatever he does, even the weirdest of things that he has ever done, he accepts it, and loves it. It’s not because he has no choice, it’s because he wants to. 

“Don’t you look dashing in that outfit,” Jongin greets Sehun with a grin on his face, his pearly white teeth almost blinding the other man. 

“Oh yeah?” Sehun stands up from his seat and gives Jongin a twirl, a smirk creeping out of his face. “You don’t look too bad yourself there.” 

Since it was Sehun’s idea, he was the one who drove the both of them to the beach on the other side of the town. It’s one of the favorite places that Sehun goes to; sometimes he goes there for a swim, or sometimes just for a walk. There are also times where he brings his tools with him, sitting on the soft sand, hands creating another masterpiece as he stares into the vast ocean. 

From time to time, Sehun takes sneaky glances at Jongin, a soft smile always on his face whenever he does it. For Sehun, something suddenly shifted in his life when he met Jongin. He doesn’t know what it is, what happened, or what immediately made him feel so much better than before, but he knows that deep inside of him, it’s because of Jongin.

Sehun has noticed how he started to become more smiley than usual, he became more outgoing, feels more motivated, he suddenly started to have a reason to live. 

There’s this feeling that he hasn’t felt before in his whole life, it appeared out of nowhere, it feels foreign and new, but it feels good. He doesn’t want this feeling to go away ever from his life.

They arrive at the beach in no time, the drive was long but it never felt that long for the both of them. 

The sand is glistening from the sun high above the sky, the sound of waves crashing is loud against their ears, and the smell of the sea is strong. 

Sehun guides Jongin to the spot where he always stays when he goes to the beach, the sun is not too harsh due to the coconut tree standing tall on the corner. 

“This is a good spot,” Jongin hums as he sets down their things on the soft sand, his eyes already in awe as he sees the wide ocean; it feels as if the water is already calling for him. 

Setting up their things such as the beach towel and snacks only took them a few minutes, both of them eager to get into the cold water. Jongin, still unaware of some of the things that the human does, got confused when Sehun asked him to cover his back with sunscreen. 

The cream is cold on his hand, he doesn’t know what it is for but he still spread them around Sehun’s back, making him feel some kind of way as his hands touches the warm body. He shakes the feeling away and continues on spreading more of the sunscreen along Sehun’s back, the man has broad shoulders, broader than his, and he thinks it’s comforting to rest his head on it. 

With a last rub of sunscreen on the back of Sehun’s neck, Jongin taps him on his shoulder, telling him that he’s done applying sunscreen on him. 

“Okay come here, it’s your turn now!” Sehun tells him and grabs at his arm. Jongin’s eyes widen at the sudden grab that Sehun had made on his arm, forcing him to be pushed down on the towel.

“It’s cold right?” Sehun laughs at him once the cool cream touches his skin, making him flinch in shock.

Sehun can feel how tense Jongin is as he spreads the cold cream around his back, his hands slowly massaging into Jongin’s body, hoping that he would relax by then. And it works, Jongin’s body loosens up and Sehun smiled happily before continuing on spreading sunscreen on his back. 

It feels weird, Jongin doesn’t know this feeling that he has right now, he’s sure it’s one of the things of being a human again. He has never felt this before, he feels heated up, his body going all tense and warm once Sehun’s hands touched him, massaging his back, hell, he almost let out a moan. 

Thank goodness before he knew it, it’s finally done and Sehun is now dragging him to the sea. 

Unfortunately for Jongin, he really doesn’t know how to swim. It’s one of the downsides of being a human for him, he cannot use any of his powers as he’s not a ghost anymore, and he’s a human, a human that cannot swim. Sehun and Jongin learned that the hard way as they are now both sitting on their spot again, Sehun calming Jongin down who almost drowned in fear. 

Jongin lost his balance and fell into the water. The water wasn’t that deep; it was about on their chests, but when Jongin felt an unfamiliar feeling on his legs, he lost his balance and fell backwards into the water. Luckily, Sehun was just a few inches away from him and was able to catch him before he fully drowned himself.

“Hey, you’re okay.” Sehun whispers to him. “You’re okay, you’re alright.” 

Sehun continues on rocking Jongin in his arms from side to side in attempt to calm him down. 

“It’s alright. You’re okay. I’m right here.” Sehun reassures him, whispering more words inside his ear. He rubs soothing circles on his skin, his hold on his body tight. 

“I’ll never let anything wrong happen to you, okay?” Sehun presses a kiss on his forehead. The action is shocking to the both of them but none of them speaks a word about it, it just felt right at the moment.

And once again, it’s funny in Jongin’s situation. It should be the other way around, he should be the one protecting Sehun from every bad thing that’s in this world, and he should be the one doing it since he knows more, but of course he can’t. Not when he’s just a mere human like Sehun.

After a lot more comforting words from Sehun, they’re back at the sea, but this time, they’re only standing where the water level doesn’t reach above their waists. Jongin doesn’t want to ruin this day that Sehun has planned for them just because he almost drowned, he’s fine and he knows that. He cannot die in a human way even if he’s a human right now. 

Sehun doesn’t want to force Jongin to go back to the water again after what has happened, but Jongin insists, reassuring him that he’s alright.

And here they are now, both of them with wide smiles and laughter coming out of their mouths as they both splash each other with water. 

The same feeling that Sehun got is here again inside his chest, in fact, he feels it growing bigger and fuller. He thinks that maybe it may overflow but he doesn’t care, he really wants it to happen. He wants the feeling to stay there forever inside his heart; he doesn’t want it to go away ever again. 

Right now whenever he looks at Jongin, he feels the warmth inside of him grow bigger as the second passes by. It’s like he found the answer, the answer to the question of why he started feeling like this, and the answer is Jongin. 

The sun has started to set as they both lay peacefully side by side on the sand. Different shades of orange and pink clash on the once blue sky, making a beautiful combination, somehow also making Sehun regret not bringing his painting tools with him today. But he lets it pass, he has already painted the sunset countless times, missing one wouldn’t hurt that much. 

Instead, he enjoys what he has right now, he enjoys just staring into the distance, and he savors the scenery in front of him. 

It’s gorgeous, breathtaking even. 

Sehun thinks he can lay down all the time beside the beach just to watch the sunsets, the view will always be so much better at the sea. 

As the minutes pass by, he cannot help but look over to Jongin. His eyes sneak a glance on the man beside him, another smile creeps up onto his face just by looking at him. 

It’s there again, that feeling. He doesn’t mind it, not anymore, he’s starting to get used to it. 

Words still can’t describe what Sehun is feeling, but he knows that in time, he’ll know how to describe it in every detail that he can. 

Sehun and Jongin decide to leave the beach and take a long drive all the way back home. The windows are rolled down and the fresh wind brushes past them as they drive by. The wind is cold, but not too cold that they’ll end up getting sick, it’s the refreshing kind of coldness. 

Jongin notices how Sehun took a different route; he definitely noticed it when Sehun parks the car in front of a small diner in the middle of nowhere. 

A huge sign saying “DINER” in neon lights is standing proud on top of the small container-like infrastructure. There’s also a blinking board on the side that says “OPEN 24 HOURS”. 

Once they enter the small diner, the scent of meat immediately whips their faces, both of them suddenly hungry just by the pleasant aroma of burgers being grilled in the kitchen. 

They take a seat on one of the vacant booths, Sehun and Jongin facing each other, and again, smiles are present on their faces. 

A sweet old lady comes by their table and hands them the menu before going back to the kitchen, letting them know to take their time in ordering their food. 

The old lady gives off an aura, making Jongin wonder what creature she is until it clicks inside his head, she’s a Guardian. Just like the waitress that winked at him at the café on the first time he and Sehun met. The Creator didn’t only make ghosts and humans, they also made Guardians, to protect and guide the humans and ghosts living in this world. 

They ordered different dishes, lasagna for Sehun, and a cheeseburger for Jongin. They also ordered a portion of fries big enough for the two of them, and of course, not forgetting a huge glass of strawberry milkshake. 

“So how did you like the beach so far?” Sehun asks, leaning forward with his elbows on the table.

“Except for the fact that I almost drowned, it was fun.” Jongin laughs it out but it’s really a terrifying moment for the both of them.

“Glad you were there to save me.” Jongin winks at Sehun, making the other one blush furiously at the action.

“Yeah, I guess you are lucky that you have me by your side.” Sehun gives him a fond smile.

“Now…let’s have a debate.” A mischievous glint crosses against Sehun’s eyes, challenging Jongin on reasoning again.

“Bring it on!” Jongin exclaims.

After a topic about being immune to cold or being immune to heat has finished, they’re now having a debate whether having one giant duck is better than having ten normal sized ducks.

“But okay hear me out,” Sehun starts, “A 10-foot tall duck wouldn’t be so bad? Rather than having 10 ducks!” 

“Yeah sure,” Jongin snorts, clearing his throat before arguing with Sehun’s statement. 

“10 ducks would be so much better! Because look at it, it’s small, and there’s only just ten of them! But if you have a 10-feet tall duck, how sure are you that taking care of that duck wouldn’t be such a hassle?” Jongin points out.

“Because… it’s only one of them! One huge giant duck! Just one!” Sehun exclaims, giving out more reasons as to why having one giant duck is so much better than having ten small ducks. 

“Ten wouldn’t be so bad! You just have ten little ducks, which are obviously easier to take care of!” 

“You say that but you will actually have ten ducks quacking at you every damn minute whenever you’re at the house, isn’t that annoying?!” Sehun laughs, imitating a duck sound and quacks for a good minute before Jongin makes him stop. 

“See!? It’s just me quacking and you’re already annoyed! Imagine if you have ten of those!”

“How about you? You’re going to have one that’s huge and its quack can be heard miles away, isn’t that annoying too?”

“Fair enough.”

Their stay at the diner ended up being hours again, they managed to order more food as they both enjoyed each other’s presence, they talked about everything that they can think of again, and had nonsense debates again.

After some time, in the middle of their conversation, Jongin unintentionally wiped the left over cream from the milkshake on Sehun’s lips, making the other one blush furiously. 

“Sorry about that.” Jongin scratches at the back of his head, instantly shying away from what he did.

“N-no it’s fine.” Sehun continues to blush, his cheeks getting bright red, his tongue slipping out of his mouth to lick at his lips. Jongin’s touch on his lips continues to linger on his lips and he can’t stop thinking about it.

Ever since Jongin did that, Sehun made sure not to embarrass himself anymore in front of him and he’s now taking timid sips from the straw that they’re both sharing. He immediately wipes at his mouth, afraid that there may be some whipped cream again on his lips. 

The night doesn’t seem to end for them, but they know they have to head home. 

Jongin pays for the meal, leaving a generous amount of tip for the sweet lady that served them their food, earning him a soft pat on cheek. They also promise to come back one of these days again, now that they have the knowledge that they have good food and a pleasing ambiance. 

On the way home, Sehun might’ve regretted taking this route, but of course, he knows it’s worth it, as long as he has Jongin with him. 

The drive is silent, except for the soft melody playing on the radio. The silence is not uncomfortable for them, not exactly pleasing too, it’s in the middle; balancing the amount of loud laughs that they had throughout the whole day. 

Sehun drops Jongin off to his apartment; bidding him a goodbye and promising see each other again the next day. 

-

Right before Jongin went to sleep, he came up with an idea. He informed Sehun that they will unfortunately not meet the next day, making up a lie again telling him that he has errands to do— which isn’t exactly a lie.

Jongin thought to himself that he should explore the Universe by himself as a human, learn the things that the humans usually do by himself. Discover places where he can take Sehun with him sometime. 

The sudden news saddened the other one as he was looking forward to seeing Jongin again the next day, he was getting too attached. He’s used to seeing Jongin every single day and suddenly they won’t meet for a day and now he’s sullen about it. 

It’s a very little thing to be frowned upon but for Sehun, it matters a lot to him. 

It’s more like ever since he met Jongin, he suddenly doesn’t know how to continue with his life anymore without him. The man had brought something with him when they first met, and he cannot live without it. It’s the feeling that he always felt whenever Jongin is around, he always wants to feel it. He’s always looking for it, in fact, yearning for it.

But Sehun tells himself that it’s just for a day, he can manage not seeing Jongin for one day. Hell, he was able to get by when Jongin wasn’t even around before, he can do it. 

It’s just for one day.

Jongin decided to walk around instead of using his car, or ride the bus. He wants to be able to learn more knowledge on how humans function, and he thought that he may be able to learn more if he walks instead. 

Taking walks is tiring, that’s what he obviously noticed from it. But even though it is tiring, he actually enjoys it. He enjoys seeing other human smile at him as he passes by, some don’t really care about his presence, but the others give him a smile in a form of greeting and he gives one back. 

The cool breeze is soothing against his skin, it feels fresh and clean. The street doesn’t seem to be that busy for the day and he’s glad about it. There’s no traffic at all, just the right amount of people going through their way on the sidewalk that Jongin walks on. 

So far on his short walk towards an unknown destination, he noticed that humans don’t seem to be that bad. In fact, they’re more innocent than Jongin thinks, they look so pure that it kind of looks fake. 

That is until he sees one human sitting on the chair in one of the vacant seats of this café he’s in front of. The human looks dull, as if all life has been erased from them, washed away just like that, gone in a glimpse. And that’s when it clicks to him; this human just lost their soulmate. 

It’s heartbreaking for Jongin to see the human in a state like that; broken and pale. This human is now what they call a Broken Soul. A soul that lost their other half, a human that lost their ghost. It’s a soul that can never be fixed ever again.

A sudden thought crashes inside Jongin’s mind that pains him numb to his core. 

Sehun.

He doesn’t know if he can handle seeing Sehun become like that. Just thinking about it breaks his heart into a million pieces; he doesn’t want that to happen to Sehun. He doesn’t want to break his heart into tiny pieces and vanish into thin air, leaving Sehun alone to deal with a broken heart that can never be fixed ever again. 

He continues on walking to clear his head, the thought of Sehun turning into a Broken Soul scares the living hell out of him. He’s going to make sure that it never happens to Sehun, He’s going to make sure that both of them pass through the portal and live in the World. 

Jongin is not even scared of vanishing anymore; it was what he wanted in the first place when he couldn’t find Sehun anywhere. But right now, what scares him the most is the possibility of Sehun becoming a Broken Soul.

A few moments later, a certain shop catches his eyes. The board on top of the shop says “Animal Kingdom” and it made him curious about what kind of shop it is. He enters inside and sees all kinds of animals, dogs, cats, rabbits, and the list goes on.

The sight instantly warms his heart as he sees different kinds of puppies and kittens looking at him in awe. There’s this voice inside his head telling him to go adopt one, but he knows it’s not right since he won’t be staying in this world forever— oh! But he can take them with them to the other world!

But it’s still not right, there’s not really a high possibility that they will go to the World.

The owner of the shop seemed to notice Jongin’s hesitation to interact with the animals and approached him, making Jongin jump out in surprise, he was only used to being seen and talked to by Sehun even though he had already met countless of humans on his walk. 

“Can’t choose?” The man asks him, and points at the small fur babies walking around the space of the building. 

“Not really, it’s more of, I want to but I can’t.” Jongin grimaces, he can’t exactly explain his situation to the human. 

“Wait, I think I know what you are… are you a ghost?” 

The question has Jongin dumbfounded, how can this human know what he is? Is he a ghost too? 

“Yeah, I know what you’re thinking, no. To answer your question, I am not a ghost. I’m a human. Chanyeol, and you are?” Chanyeol, the human hands his hand out to shake Jongin’s. 

“Jongin.” Jongin is hesitant about this certain human but accepts his hand and shakes it nevertheless. 

“I know you have a lot of questions, we can talk in the back room, and there are kittens and puppies there too.”

“I had a ghost like you too before.” Chanyeol starts, looking into the distance and a sad look is on his face. Jongin looks concerned, his heart already beating fast as he’s nervous about what the human has to share with him. 

“He told me about the two worlds a few days after we met; he explained everything to me, the whole situation. And of course I didn’t believe him at first, because how could I? My entire life, I believed that this is the only world that exists and I had no worries about that at all,” Chanyeol chuckles, but the sound felt emotionless, empty almost.

“I was clueless about the other world and somehow I was content about it. Content that this is the only world that I know. But of course, when he told me about the other world I got curious and believed him after some time of thinking. But unfortunately we ran out of time.” Chanyeol heaves out a sigh as Jongin frowns.

“I was ready to go to the other world with him, but then suddenly he vanished. We both lost track of time enjoying our stay here when we could’ve spent so much more time on the other world.” Jongin could only pat Chanyeol’s shoulder as tears started to fall down his face. There’s nothing else that he could do. What’s done is already done.

“And ever since he disappeared, everything, every single thing that reminded me of him was gone too. All of his things, pictures that I took with him, he was erased just like that. He also left a mark on me, the mark that will never be filled ever again, and I’m telling you this because I don’t want another human to become a Broken Soul like me.” Chanyeol tells him sincerely and all Jongin could do is nod.

Jongin did notice how broken Chanyeol looked and sounded, there may be a smile printed on his face but it’s not the same, it’s fake, it’s what he puts up when he has to meet other people. The side of his lips were just curved up but not showing any emotion, his eyes are broken too, not a glimpse of emotion can be seen.

After some time, Jongin asked him what was his ghost’s name and unfortunately that has also been erased from his memory. The whole situation is terrifying now for Jongin, the thought of disappearing into thin air, any memory kept by his human will be gone too except for the feeling that he felt. 

Jongin talked more with Chanyeol, but this time he changed the topic into the animals he’s taking care of. All the time he was at the shop (which ended up being for hours), he got attached to two small puppies. He promised Chanyeol to visit the shop again some time to check on the puppies and bring Sehun with him the next time. 

Hearing Chanyeol’s story made him want to see Sehun that night, so he called him up and told him to meet him at the park, exactly at their spot. 

The possibility of Sehun turning into a Broken Soul scares Jongin even more right now. The fear of leaving him alone in this world forever is making his stomach sick. He cannot imagine seeing Sehun become broken like that, all hope, happiness, and love lost and taken away from him. His heart crushed into tiny pieces that can never be put together ever again. 

When Jongin saw Sehun approach him, he immediately ran up to him and hugged him tightly to his chest, taking the other one by surprise but reciprocating back the hug. 

“Did you miss me that much?” Sehun whispers in his ear, his arms wrapped around Jongin’s waist, his hold getting tighter as he savors the moment that he’s in right now. 

“Yeah, I don’t think I can stay away from you ever again.”

“Then don’t leave me alone and take me with you all the time.”

After what seemed like hours, they pulled away from their embrace and sat down on the bench, the moonlight can be seen on the calm water of the lake in front of them. Sehun rests his head on Jongin’s shoulder, his arms hooked on Jongin’s elbow. Jongin, pleased by Sehun’s actions, rests his head on top of the other’s. 

They started talking about how both of their days went. Sehun shared how he spent the whole day inside his apartment, locked up inside his room, bundled up in his blankets while watching different videos of tiny kittens on the internet. He also shared how he almost burnt his cheese toast for lunch because he was too focused on a kitten dancing cutely while dressed up in a tiny pink tutu. 

The whole time that Sehun was speaking, Jongin was trying his best to remember all the stories that Sehun is telling him. Jongin was too focused on Sehun’s voice, the way Sehun’s eyes light up when he started talking about the kitten, the way Sehun was making these little hand gestures to emphasize his story; it’s the little things that Sehun does that catches Jongin’s eyes more. 

Jongin is already sure that he has fallen in love with this man, his human, his other half. It’s the feeling that he never wants to be away from him ever again, always wanting to be by his side, seeing him smile, hearing his voice and his laugh, touching his skin, feeling the warmth that radiates off of his body, everything. 

Jongin is in love. 

He’s in love with Sehun. 

He has already fallen in love with his human. 

“You’re not even listening to me,” Sehun whines at him, breaking him out of his trance. 

“Of course I am, I was listening to your voice.” And that made his human blush, his soft cheeks going red and he shies away from Jongin, hiding his face in his hands. 

“You know what I realized today?”

“What is it?”  
“I don’t think I can live a day without you, I don’t know. I just felt so lonely without you by my side, and I don’t even know what I’m feeling right now. But I felt so empty…I know you’re just around, it’s not like you’re really gone but being away from you feels so painful.”

“I won’t leave you alone from now on, okay?” 

Jongin holds Sehun’s hands in his, clasping the warm hand, rubbing circles with his thumb on the skin. 

“You promise me that?” Sehun’s voice is smaller now, soft, as if it’s confined inside a tiny box for days and is scared to go louder because it may break, and Jongin’s heart already breaks. Because it clicks at him, Sehun is scared of being alone, he’s scared that Jongin might leave him one day and he doesn’t know what he will do if that happens. Sehun is scared to become a Broken Soul too even if he doesn’t know what it means. 

“I won’t leave you even if you tell me to.” 

Jongin presses a soft kiss on top of Sehun’s head, a tear falling down his cheek as his emotions are all over the place. The whole day has been a rollercoaster ride for him and this is the only time he finally breaks, the pain of knowing that Sehun is scared of being left alone by him. 

They spent the whole night at the park, hands clasped together, talking about their future. 

A future that seems so real but impossible at the same time, as if they can already feel it and have it in their hands but at the same, it only feels like it’s a vision, an illusion per se. 

But of course, none of them seem to take notice of that. 

-

Weeks have passed and the two have gotten much closer than they already were. They could never get enough of each other, always making sure that they see each other as soon as the sun rises and only parting ways when it’s the latest of the night. 

Sehun has gotten used to this feeling that he felt ever since Jongin came into his life. Until now, he still can’t describe what exactly this feeling is, but he knows he cannot live without it. He knows that he’ll feel empty when it goes away. And right now, he’s not thinking about it, the thought of that feeling disappearing is on the very back of his head. 

The past weeks have been absolutely adventurous for the two, going on different places, trying out things that they both haven’t done before, discovering foreign foods, places, everything. As far as they know, it seems like they have done everything that they could. But of course, doing things again the second time doesn’t seem so bad and so they went back to the places that they truly adored. 

For Jongin, being with Sehun is always like a breath of fresh air, like the warm light coming from the sun, the cool breeze brought by the winds, the stars glimmering wonderfully on a night sky; it’s everything and more than he can think of. 

Perhaps this is what it feels like being in love. 

Jongin already knows it, he already knew what love meant, but when he fell, it was beyond his expectations. It’s like you won a million dollars, but other things such as cars, a house and lot, and many more also came in his way. It’s full of surprises.

“How much more stairs are we going to climb?!” Sehun groans as Jongin leads the way. 

Jongin has a surprise for Sehun, It has been weeks overdue but right now seems like the right time to bring him to this place that he found out before. 

Despite his groaning, whining, and complaining about the stairs, Sehun still follows Jongin all the way up the tall building (it’s not like he has a choice anyway).

Finally after what seemed like hours of pure agony, they reached the top floor of the building with only a metal door leading them to god knows what standing in the middle. Jongin grabs Sehun’s hand, pulling him near him before pushing him in front of him, wrapping his hands around his face, covering his eyes. 

“What are you doing?!” Sehun whines.

“Shhh..it’s a surprise, just trust me.” Jongin’s voice is reassuring as always and Sehun calms down at that, nodding and letting Jongin lead the way for him. 

The sound of the door opening is loud on their ears, the metal scratching through the concrete floor; they both cringe at it, Jongin sheepishly apologizing and Sehun brushing it off. 

Once they entered the “secret place”, they walk a few more steps until Jongin finds the perfect spot to reveal the place to Sehun. 

“I’m going to count to three and you will open your eyes, okay?” Sehun nods and Jongin lets go of him, going in front to see Sehun’s reaction, he doesn’t want to miss the look on his face when he sees the view. 

“One.”

“Two.”

“Three. Open your eyes.”

Sehun’s eyes light up once he sees the bushes of flowers surrounding the whole floor. The flowers range from different colors and types of it, making Sehun speechless on his spot, no words coming out of him as he stands there in the middle ground, shocked. 

If it’s even possible, the feeling that he has felt for the past weeks ever since he met Jongin has gotten bigger, his heart beating so fast and he feels warm and fuzzy inside. He’s taking it all in inside of him, savoring the moment, tattooing the scenery inside his brain, not wanting it to fade away. 

For minutes after Sehun stood there in shock, a smile comes out of his face, his eyes watery as his emotions are all over the place. And that’s when it hits him; this is what it feels like to be happy, and to be in love. 

He feels so much pleasure, his affection for Jongin growing deeper and deeper as the seconds pass by. His smile is so wide that his cheek hurts and the tears on his also started falling down his face. He does a spin, his eyes taking in the view, and when he is finally content, he runs up to Jongin. 

Sehun runs up to him and clutches Jongin’s face in his hands before pressing his lips against his. 

Sehun’s actions take Jongin by surprise but he kisses him back nevertheless. Jongin’s hands find their way to Sehun’s neck, grasping tightly onto him as he pulls him even closer, all of their emotions, feelings, unsaid words, pouring down into their kiss. It feels passionate, and warm, it feels safe, they both feel safe and they both feel love. 

They feel everything that they wanted to feel. Love, happiness, safety, protection, warmth, comfort, peace, excitement, desperateness, and the list goes on.

They hold onto each other tightly, their lips battling over each other as they become one. Their grip onto each other is tight, painful almost, but not when they’re both content and at ease. 

Sehun and Jongin feel safe in each other’s arms. 

After what seemed like hours, Jongin pulled away, letting them take a deep breath. He presses his forehead against Sehun's, his eyes still closed, and all he can feel around him is just Sehun, all he can think of is just Sehun, his mind is just full of his other half.

And Sehun is the same way that Jongin is, his mind emptied out of all other thoughts except Jongin. 

“I love you.” Sehun speaks up; his eyes wide open as he pulls away from Jongin but still holding onto his hand, gripping it tightly like his life depended on it. 

“I don’t know what else to say right now other than I love you, I really do, Jongin.” And that’s when the tears started to fall down his face, they’re the happy tears, it’s Sehun crying from so much joy that he’s feeling right now. 

“I love you too. I always have.” Jongin smiles at Sehun before pulling him again in his arms, embracing his body tightly. Sehun rests his head on the crook of Jongin’s neck, his arms wrapped tightly on the small of his waist and whispers the words back over and over again; not getting tired of saying it to him. 

They walk around the place, stopping every few minutes to observe the flowers decorating the whole venue. Jongin feels his heart grow bigger whenever he sees Sehun lit up because of the flowers. The human smiles at him in joy and love; he's so happy.

Jongin somehow felt he accomplished the biggest task he ever had in his entire life as he saw Sehun beam at him with enthusiasm. He knew that Sehun has always adored flowers, always making sure to include the colorful blooms in his painting. 

“Jongin, if you told me we’re going to be here I could’ve brought my painting tools with me!” And Jongin just smiled at Sehun’s whining before pointing behind Sehun’s back. Sehun turned around and saw his tools waiting for him. Just as Sehun thought he couldn’t love Jongin anymore, he was as wrong at that as his heart pounded ten times faster than before. 

Before Sehun went up to his tools, he jumped back to Jongin’s arms, wrapping his arms around his neck before giving him a big kiss on the lips. 

“I love you so much.” Jongin just smile/ before pushing Sehun towards his tools so he can start painting, “Go on now and paint, baby.” Jongin pressed a soft kiss on Sehun’s forehead, his lips lingering for a moment. Sehun smiled and let go of him, walking towards the painting tools and setting them up so he can start doing his work. 

Sehun ended up painting one section of the flowers, with his knowledge about the meanings of certain blooms, he painted the ones that describe his feelings that he has right now, and those are happiness and love. Sehun painted red roses for the symbol of love, and peonies for the symbol of happiness.

From time to time, Sehun looks over at Jongin who was watching him paint, a fond look on his face, smiling at him every time he looks back and Sehun gives one back. 

Sehun finally realized that throughout his whole life, something was missing inside of him. He felt incomplete, but he only noticed that once Jongin came into his life and made him feel that way. Jongin made him feel complete. Sehun’s once lonely heart is now paired with another one, the perfect match, the other half. 

Having Jongin by his side makes him feel safe, it makes him feel like everything is possible, makes him think that everything will be okay as long as he’s there. 

And it is true, as long as Jongin is there, everything will be okay.

Sehun is in the middle of painting when the rain starts pouring down on them. Luckily, Sehun is positioned under a small roof so his painting wasn’t ruined and he’s just about to finish it. 

The cool water coming from the rain is giving them a refreshing gust of wind, making Jongin come up with an idea.

“Come dance with me.” Jongin tells Sehun as he pulls him towards the unroofed surface, “I can’t even dance!” Sehun whines at him but doesn’t pull away from his lover. 

“Jongin, there’s not even any music here!” Sehun laughs at him. 

“Shush, just trust me.” Jongin smiles and Sehun nods. He loves him, so of course, he trusts him. 

Jongin starts humming to a tune, putting his hands on Sehun’s waist while placing Sehun’s around his neck. Despite Sehun being the taller one between them, he takes the lead. Jongin sways them from side to side, his humming going louder just like the pouring rain. He lets go of Sehun’s hand and twirls him around, making the other one yelp out in surprise. 

They both feel good being like this; being lost in each other, being together, being one. 

Jongin and Sehun continued to dance in the rain, switching once in a while as Jongin does a twirl. They’re happy, their eyes are twinkling, their mouths wide in a grin, and their hearts, connected as one. 

If they could frame this moment forever, they would do it in a heartbeat, so they could never forget it. This is definitely one of those moments that they would want to relive over and over again throughout their whole lives. This is one of the moments where they’re just content and in love; a moment they wouldn’t trade for the world. 

The rain started slowing down and the Soulmates did too. They stood there in the middle, foreheads pressed against each other, whispering those three little words that hold so much meaning to each other, repeating it over and over again until one of them gets tired of hearing it, in which they don’t or so they thought. 

-

Before they know it, weeks have passed and Jongin is finally taking Sehun to Chanyeol’s shop. It was very long overdue, but finally after some thinking, he decided to bring his lover to meet the cute animals that Chanyeol has been taking care of. 

Ever since that night at the rooftop, Sehun never wanted to be away from Jongin, making him stay with him at his apartment for good. It was very convenient to the both of them as they both don’t want to be away from the other for a few seconds, always clinging to the other. 

Weeks to have passed and unfortunately, Jongin forgot that he’s not entirely a human. It’s now buried in the back of his head that he’s a ghost that doesn’t have much time left in this world. All traces of being a ghost is pushed aside on the corner of his brain, as of now, he’s living his life as a human, and he’s not worried about anything, not a single bit.

Jongin enjoyed the past weeks of his life; he spent all of his time with Sehun. They both went on adventures again, they went to the beach again and Sehun taught him how to swim, holding onto him the whole time until he finally got the hang of it. And when Jongin could finally swim, Sehun stayed by his side, making sure that Jongin is okay, and he’s just right there, by his side, ready to catch him if things go wrong. 

Jongin also accompanied Sehun again on the rooftop, he took Sehun there after every two days, they went there before the sun rises and before the sun sets, letting Sehun have the best view for his paintings. Sometimes they just sit there at the rooftop and not paint, they just spend their hours there talking, hands held tight together, kisses being exchange here and there. And Sehun was able to finish painting the whole rooftop of flowers in just less than three weeks, completely satisfied with his works.

Ever since Jongin came into Sehun’s life, he noticed that the paintings that he started to make had more life in it; they’re more alive than the ones he used to make. It’s like the colors became brighter, just like his life. 

A few days ago, Sehun finally convinced Jongin to paint him. Jongin disagreed on the few first tries, declining the offer, until Sehun finally got Jongin to say yes to him, after tons of whining. 

When Sehun painted Jongin that night, that night was marked as one of the best nights of their lives. Hands full of paint roaming against each other’s skin, bright colors leaving a mark all over their bodies. Kisses were exchanged; words of affection and their names left each other’s mouth in pure pleasure. It was a blissful night. 

The day after that night, Jongin made sure to make Sehun a good breakfast. He made him (them) a platter of bacon, eggs, and even pancakes with whipped cream on it, waking his lover up with a tasty surprise. Their whole day ended up with them just being tangled in the sheets on Sehun’s bed, or their bed as what Sehun would call it.

There was also another time where they went bungee jumping. They were taking a walk after having lunch at a new diner they discovered from the other side of the town, and Sehun being very impulsive, dragged Jongin’s arms towards the booth of payment for the bungee jumping activity. 

“Finally!” Sehun yelps out in excitement as they received their tickets for the activity.

“I have been wanting to do this for a long time but I never got the chance to do it until now.” Sehun tells Jongin.

“You’re not scared right?” Sehun asks Jongin who’s visibly trembling in fear.

Jongin was frightened of heights, forgetting that he was a ghost that cannot die in that way. The platform was very high up in the sky, reaching about 50 meters up. 

“I guess you can say that I am.” Jongin grimaces and Sehun holds his hand instead, calming him instantly once their skin touches.

Sehun was absolutely excited and thrilled. One of his life goals is finally coming to fruition. 

Sehun never forced Jongin into the bungee jumping, only wanting him to accompany him when he does the activity but for some reason, Jongin also wanted to try it out and face his fear (which is not really his true fear). 

Sehun jumped first, wanting to show Jongin that there’s nothing to be afraid of, and he came back just in time when it was Jongin’s turn to jump. Sehun gave him words of encouragement, telling him that everything will be fine, he’s going to be okay once he jumps and the first part (jumping off) is the hardest, but the rest is easy. 

Jongin jumped after getting a kiss and an “I love you” from Sehun, screaming at the top of his lungs as he flew into the air, dropping down to the ground with his eyes closed shut. It felt good; he felt like he was flying, the air was cool against his skin as he dropped. And Sehun was right; there was nothing to be afraid of. 

Jongin and Sehun entered Chanyeol’s shop hand in hand; huge smiles plastered on their faces, and anyone could tell that they’re both in love— even Chanyeol could tell it, because he was like that before, he was once in love too. 

Jongin greeted Chanyeol, immediately introducing Sehun to him. Sehun was enthusiastic as he shook hands with Chanyeol, but for the other, he just gave him a fake, tight-lipped smile in return. 

It was understandable in Chanyeol’s side, the human has already lost his other half, and he’s incomplete and broken but he still tries his best on entertaining people because he has no choice than continue on living like this, he’s stuck forever like this – that is unless he puts an end to all of it. 

Chanyeol took the Soulmates on the same room he took Jongin before, the room was once again filled with more puppies and kittens, and Jongin thinks the family grew even bigger as he saw some new ones. 

Jongin let Sehun have fun on the carpeted floor, letting the small puppies climb on top of him and give him kisses as he yelps out in excitement. Seeing Sehun like this made Jongin observe the human, the man that he loves, and he thinks that seeing Sehun happy is always a sight to see; he doesn’t want this feeling to go away from him. 

Jongin sees Sehun running around the room, the kittens and puppies following him, small meows and barks coming for him while the human just laughs his head off, amazed with the cute tiny creatures chasing after him and Jongin just looks at him fondly. 

Chanyeol sees the way Jongin looks at Sehun and it feels like flashes of memories are coming back to him, he cannot remember the name of his ghost anymore and how he looks like but he remembers the feeling, he remembers it all, how it felt to be in love, and he misses it so dearly that it pains him every single day that he lives on. 

There’s this question that Chanyeol has been meaning to ask Jongin ever they came in, and Chanyeol really hopes that the answer that he gets is what he was hoping for. 

“Jongin, can I talk to you for a minute?” Chanyeol asked him, pulling the ghost out of his trance. “Yeah sure.” Jongin left the room with Chanyeol, leaving Sehun with the baby animals with a kiss on the forehead. 

“So how have you been?” Chanyeol asked him, wanting the conversation to start of lightly. “I’ve been good, we’ve been good. We’re okay.” Jongin smiled at him.

“I’ve been meaning to ask, does Sehun know already?” It’s the question that Chanyeol has been dying to ask Jongin.

“Know what?” Jongin is confused, what would Sehun need to know? As far as Jongin knows, he and Sehun are alright and there’s nothing hidden between the two of them. This brings out the shocked look on Chanyeol’s face, he’s worried, and the worst has come. 

“Oh no, Jongin…..you’ve forgotten.” Chanyeol is standing in front of him now, pulling at his wrist, “Jongin, wake up! You’re a ghost!” Chanyeol shakes Jongin in fear; afraid that Jongin and Sehun will end up turning like him and his other half, or even worse than that. 

“What are you talking about?” Jongin is still confused on what Chanyeol is telling him, he doesn’t know anything what the man is talking about. 

“Jongin, listen to me carefully, okay?” Chanyeol held onto his shoulders and stared at him intensely, before speaking again, “Jongin, remember what you really are. You’re a ghost, and you’re running out of time. You will end up vanishing in both worlds, and you will end up leaving Sehun alone as a Broken Soul. Wake up Jongin. Remember that now.” Chanyeol’s voice was slow and clear, he made sure that Jongin was listening to him intently; making sure that he heard and understood every single word that he said. 

Jongin is trying hard to remember everything that Chanyeol said to him. He’s trying to rack up his mind on what he truly is, his mind is suddenly spinning, his breathing getting shallow as his chest begins to tighten, his vision is now blurry; he feels like he’s going to faint. And that’s when it suddenly clicks inside of his brain, he remembers everything now. 

He’s a ghost. 

He looks at his wrist and sees the twinkling red numbers once again.

03:21:59:12

The clock keeps on ticking, the seconds keep on counting down, and his time keeps on lessening and lessening. 

Time.

He’s running out of time.

He spent so much of his time being a human and he suddenly forgot what he truly is. 

“Oh no.” Jongin said, looking at Chanyeol with fear written all over his eyes; he’s scared. 

“I think you should go now and talk to him Jongin. And please, do whatever it takes to make sure that the both of you go to the other world.” Chanyeol bid the two of them goodbye, giving Jongin a nod as a sign of good luck, which Jongin desperately needs as he doesn’t know if things will go well tonight. 

-

On the way to Sehun’s apartment, Jongin has been fidgety the whole time. Jongin kept on picking at his nails, looking around his surroundings, his breathing uneven, his heartbeat getting faster and louder as each second passes by. The time has finally come. He wishes he doesn’t have to go through with this but there is no other way, in order for them to live a happy life in another world, they need to go through pain first. 

Sehun takes notice of how Jongin suddenly changed after they left Chanyeol’s shop, he noticed the little things the man has been doing, and he immediately knows that something is wrong but he doesn’t speak up about it. He knows that Jongin will tell him about it eventually and so he waits. 

Jongin thinks of the right words to say to Sehun, he thinks them carefully, choosing the words carefully inside his mind one by one, hoping that he choose the wrong one and make Sehun not trust him, or worse, not love him anymore. 

It takes a long time to earn someone’s trust, but it only takes one wrong move to break it apart.

When they arrived at the apartment, Jongin hurriedly went to the bathroom to splash water on his face. He’s shaking, trembling to the very core, his skin is pale and his heart is about to beat its way out of his body. 

“Jongin, love, are you okay?” Sehun knocks on the door twice, checking up on him, concern lacing his voice. 

Jongin takes slow deep breaths to calm his uneven breathing, his hold on the sink getting tighter as he calms himself down. 

“Jongin, you’re worrying me. Is everything okay?” Sehun is now full on worried, he’s scared because he wants to help Jongin but at the same time he can’t as the other locked himself inside the bathroom. 

“Y-yeah! I’ll be out in a minute.” Jongin calls out, his breathing still uneven.

“You sure?”

“Yes babe.”

Jongin came out of the bathroom after he finally calmed his breathing down. He washed his face again with cold water to make him feel better and it worked, though his nervousness never went away. 

He sees Sehun leaning against the wall next to the door of the bathroom, nipping at his nails, worry growing over him and he finally let out a sigh in relief once he sees Jongin get out of the bathroom, immediately pulling him into his arms and checking if everything is okay with Jongin. 

Sehun puts both of his hands on Jongin’s cheeks, his fingers brushing away the hair that’s matted on his forehead, his thumbs rubbing soothing circles on Jongin’s skin as he asks Jongin what’s going on. 

“You know you can tell me anything right?” Sehun tells Jongin as the latter leads them towards the bedroom; it’s now or never. 

“Yeah…can you sit down for a moment? I have to tell you something.” Jongin tells Sehun as gently pushes him down on the mattress to sit; he faces Sehun, his nails already scratching again on his palms as his nervousness grows bigger as the second passes by. 

“Hey,” Sehun takes Jongin’s hand in his, his thumb rubbing soothing circles on his skin in an attempt to calm Jongin down, “It’s gonna be okay.” He smiles reassuringly.

“Whenever you’re ready,” Sehun says softly and gives him a smile, reassuring him that everything will be okay.

Jongin takes deep breaths again, his eyes closing as he focuses on his breathing, his hand enclosed in Sehun’s is squeezing the other’s and Sehun squeezes it back. 

“You trust me right?” Jongin opens his eyes and asks Sehun carefully. 

“Of course I do. I love you and I trust you, Jongin.” Sehun replies as he takes Jongin’s face in hands, cradling it and giving him a kiss on the lips. 

“Then I need you to believe in everything I’m going to say, okay?” Jongin needs to make sure that Sehun will trust him and believe him, he knows the other loves him but somehow it’s not enough to make him believe in what he’s about to say. 

Sehun nods and Jongin takes that as a cue to start explaining. 

The whole time that Jongin was talking, Sehun’s mind starts to spin, everything was getting blurry, his vision is shaky, his hands are sweating, his breathing uneven, his chest is tightening; he can’t focus on anything, not even on Jongin. 

Sehun is trying hard to focus on Jongin’s voice, the voice slowly talking to him, making sure he understands everything that he’s explaining but the voice is echoed out of his mind, the words such as human, ghost, Soulmate, Universe, World, Creator, and Guardian are all floating inside his head but none of them makes sense – he doesn’t want to believe it. 

A ghost. Jongin is a ghost, he’s not real, he’s not like Sehun, he’s fake, he doesn’t exist, he’s—

“Sehun, hey, are you listening?” Jongin takes Sehun’s hand in his; knowing that everything he just said to him is overwhelming and hard to believe but Sehun took his hand away from Jongin’s grasp.

Sehun now feels scared around Jongin, he’s not real, he keeps on telling himself. He scoots away from Jongin as much as he can, fear taking over his once love-struck eyes, all of the trust he had on Jongin is now gone. 

“I know, it’s hard to believe what I just said, but you told me you trust me right?” Jongin can understand Sehun’s reactions, staying away from him as much as he can, giving him space that he needs so he can process everything inside his head. 

There are now voices lurking inside Sehun’s brain, telling him that Jongin isn’t real at all, Jongin is fake, Jongin never loved him, Jongin used him, Jongin is just a memory that needs to be vanished.

Tears start welling up on Sehun’s eyes, his breath is shaky as he leans against the wall, his fists balled up in anger, sadness, and betrayal. He has a lot on his mind that he wants to say but his mouth keeps on being held shut. The tears start falling down and he breaks down as well, falling to the ground, weak and beaten down. 

Jongin sees him fall down to the ground, sees how his shoulders started to shake as he starts sobbing, the cries are painful to hear, and so he walks up to him in order to console him. He takes one step forward and—

“Stop.” Sehun says, not daring to look at Jongin’s face as he continues to sob, it was already hard to let out that one word, but he has to. 

“Please leave.” Sehun sounds so broken, and it’s like Jongin’s worst fear has already come true.

“I need you to leave and please… don’t come back anymore.” 

Jongin’s breathing— no, his world stopped at that. 

“Sehun, no…please…” Jongin is about to beg, hell, he’ll do everything to stay by Sehun’s side, he cannot leave like this. 

“You trust me, right?”

Sehun let out an empty laugh. The sound echoing throughout the whole room, making the situation feel much worse for Jongin.

“How can I trust you now, when you’re not even real?!” 

And it was just pure silence, the emptiness is filling up the room, it’s uncomfortable and painful.

“Sehun…just..please…” Jongin takes a step forward but he’s being held back. 

“No!” Sehun shouts, “You expect me to believe everything you just said just because I love you? Just because I gave my everything to you?!” 

“Please, I’m— we’re running out of time.” Jongin begs, his heart being crushed as Sehun continues to glare at him. 

“Time?” Sehun laughs again but the tears kept on falling down his face, his sobs still coming out of his body, “Hell, if I knew it would come to this I shouldn’t have approached you in the first place.” 

It’s killing Jongin piece by piece, he cannot do anything anymore. Sehun’s mind has been made up and he wants nothing to do with Jongin anymore. Though Jongin made sure to choose the words carefully to explain the whole situation to Sehun, he still messed up; or that’s how his – their fate is supposed to be. 

But it shouldn’t, Jongin knows it’s not supposed to be like this. Soulmates end up being together, but then he remembered Chanyeol and his ghost. 

Not everyone gets to have a happy ending. 

“I don’t know what else you need to hear but, please. Leave,” Sehun pleads once more, he cannot be in the same room as Jongin anymore. Everything that he earned: faith, trust, love, they’re all shattered and gone. 

Jongin cannot argue anymore, it’s too late. 

All the blame goes to him. 

He lost track of time, he forgot what he truly is, and not only did he mess up; he also lost his other half. 

“I know you said you don’t want me to come back anymore, and I can’t do anything about that, but please, come back to me if you want to.” Jongin says softly, “I’ll spend my last moments waiting for you.” 

And with that, Jongin leaves Sehun alone. 

When Jongin left, Sehun’s world crumbled down. 

His only one and his kingdom had come undone. 

Sehun kept on crying down on the ground, his loud broken sobs echoing his now empty home, his shoulders shaking with every sob coming out of his body, his chest tight and painful, he’s broken, tired, angry, and sad. 

He thinks to himself what if, what if he never approached Jongin on that day. What if he let Jongin alone to cry to himself that day, then he wouldn’t be in this situation right now. 

Sehun lets everything out until there’s nothing left to release. 

His throat is sore from crying out loud, but he doesn’t stop, the pain that he’s feeling doesn’t stop, it keeps on going, worse, it grows bigger and he can feel it cover his entire body with it. 

“I fucking trusted you!” Sehun shouts at no one, his voice cracking at the end. 

“I hate you!” Sehun sobs out. 

“Fuck you! Fuck you Jongin!” Sehun shouts once more, “I shouldn’t have trusted you! You shouldn’t have entered my life! Fuck you!” 

-

Time has now gotten slower on Sehun’s side, it felt so fast when Jongin was with him, as if everything was going quickly, but now he just wants the time to pass through, so he can get out of this hell that he put himself in right now. 

All Sehun did when Jongin left him was cry, sob, shout, and curse his name. Sehun’s apartment is a mess, he threw things around, broke them by throwing them against the wall or down to the ground. 

It hurts him, knowing that the only person he had ever loved is now gone. He pushed him away, he let him go. 

The voices inside his head got stronger, telling him every second of the day that Jongin never loved him at all, never cared for him and only used him. 

It’s tough. 

And Sehun believes every single word the voices say to him. 

A ghost. 

Two different worlds. 

He shakes the thoughts out of his head, he wants to clear his mind but he can’t, his head is full of Jongin and Jongin only. No matter how many times he tried to sleep it off, it’s still there – Jongin is still there. 

As if everything started crashing down on him again, the tears are back again. The pain on his chest is there once more, and he’s sure of the fact that it will never leave him anymore. 

He’s empty, hollow, broken; a missing piece is taken away from him. 

He feels as if his heart has been shattered to the ground into pieces and those pieces are washed away and never to be found again as the waves took it with them. 

His life has gotten duller. 

He remembers himself before he met Jongin, he was okay but he wasn’t complete yet. He remembers feeling alive and now he feels like he’s dead. He remembers Jongin bringing a feeling he hasn’t felt before and now it’s taken away again from him. 

He remembers everything. 

And it’s just a sad thought that all he could do right now is reminisce and not go back to it anymore, not have that feeling anymore.

All he could feel now is pain and complete and utter sadness. 

He can never feel love and happiness anymore. 

Everything has been taken over by the pain. 

As the moments pass by, Sehun does everything that he can to ruin himself even more. 

And all Jongin could do was watch. 

Ever since he left Sehun, his time has been cut short; he has less time than he thought he has. 

It’s another rule the Creator had made: if the human pushes his ghost away, the time gets cut short and they can never go back to their human unless it’s the human who comes back to them.

He has less than a day and he already started fading, he can’t feel himself anymore; anyone can see through him. 

Jongin is floating on the tunnel. 

The Tunnel has two passages; one is the path for the other world, while the other one is the path where they vanish. The path also lets the ghosts see what their human is up to while they’re stuck in the tunnel until their time is up, and for Jongin, he’s watching Sehun destroy himself even more. 

His worst fear is becoming a reality. 

Sehun is so close to turning into a broken soul. 

And all Jongin could do is watch. 

Sehun doesn’t do much anymore, all he does is wake up and cry and then sleep and then cry himself again to sleep. Sometimes he wakes up and wishes that he’s gone too. 

It takes him a lot of energy to get up from his bed today and once he does, he ruins himself again. 

He looks at the paintings he made, the ones he remembers making before Jongin entered his life; the ones he painted without Jongin’s knowledge. 

He cries even more once he notices that his paintings have changed; there was no sign of Jongin on his paintings anymore. Every single one of his paintings that he remembered including Jongin is now changed; Jongin is erased in every single one of them. 

Sehun sobs out again in pain; he clutches the first painting he ever made of Jongin. The tanned skin man now erased on the canvas, his painting full of colors but not with life anymore. 

Sehun lies down on the ground and cries and cries and cries until he feels like it’ll take him to his end; but it doesn’t. 

Sehun feels his lips that continued to call on Jongin go completely dry. 

He wants to go back to the time where he used to call Jongin and yearn for him and the other will come crashing to his arms happily, but it’s not going to happen anymore. 

It’s too late. 

But what if it isn’t?

Sehun thinks back to what Jongin had said to him, he just needs to come back to him. But with the paintings in his hands, it’s too late. 

But it’s not a bad option to try. 

Sehun has nothing to lose anymore. 

Not when he already lost Jongin. 

Sehun goes to the beach where he and Jongin always went. 

The waves crashing on the shore are loud, there’s not much people as the sun is already setting down. The wind blowing against his skin is cold, but cannot compare to his already cold and broken heart. 

He marched to the sea, the water getting deeper and deeper as he continued on. 

The water reaches his neck already, and if he goes much further, he could drown; but that was the whole point of going to the ocean. 

He needs to drown.

He needs to die. 

Sehun closes his eyes and steps forward, the water reaching his chin and he continues on walking until his feet cannot reach the seafloor anymore. 

It’s now or never. 

Sehun lets go of everything and falls down deep into the ocean. 

The water entering his body is painful as he continues to drown himself down, his chest is tight and full of seawater, his eyes keep shut, and he fights back the urge to go back up to get some air. 

He has nothing to lose if he fails. 

He’d rather die trying than not try at all. 

Darkness takes over him as he finally loses consciousness. 

Sehun’s lifeless body floats on the ocean as he successfully drowned himself. 

Jongin is still floating but he’s being lead to the passage of vanishing. It’s over now; all he could think of right now is that he had a wonderful time with Sehun. He spent the most of it with full of laughter and love. Now it only pains him that he spent his last moments with him as a painful one, leaving Sehun broken and alone. 

Jongin closed his eyes; he lets his body stay afloat as he feels himself vanish slowly. 

He made Sehun feel happy and loved, and that’s what matter the most to him right now. 

He loved Sehun and Sehun loved him back. 

He made Sehun happy and Sehun did the same. 

It’s all right now. 

He has nothing left to do anymore. 

Sehun will be alright. 

He really hopes he will be alright.

Blinding light passes through his closed eyelids, making him open his eyes. 

The coldness of the Tunnel is gone, replaced with warmth as the Tunnel grew colors. 

Jongin is confused; he’s seconds away from completely vanishing. 

A shape of a person emerges from the blinding light – Sehun. 

Sehun finds his way all through the cold Tunnel to find Jongin floating around in the air, half of his body erased and he runs up to him, just a touch from his skin makes Jongin’s body come back to life. 

Their hearts are beating again as one, they feel complete again. 

They’re back in each other’s arms. 

The silence from the shock doesn’t seem uncomfortable for them anymore. 

Jongin took Sehun in his arms again, tears coming out of his eyes as he hugged him tight. 

It’s real. 

They will be okay. 

Sehun came back to him. 

Sehun pressed his forehead against Jongin and gave him a smile, a smile that assures the both of them will be alright, and Jongin returns one back. 

The impossible has happened. 

“I know you’d come back to me.” 

And together hand in hand, they crossed the pathway to the world, where they will be alright.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading!


End file.
